In software defined computing, a computing infrastructure is virtualized and delivered as a service. For example, in a software-defined storage (SDS) system storage hardware is separated from software that manages the storage infrastructure. In SDS, the software managing a software-defined storage environment may also provide policy management for features such as deduplication, replication, thin provisioning, snapshots and backup. By definition, SDS software is separate from the hardware it is managing, and can be implemented via appliances over a traditional Storage Area Network (SAN), or implemented as part of a scale-out Network-Attached Storage (NAS) solution, or as the basis of an Object-based storage solution.
The description above is presented as a general overview of related art in this field and should not be construed as an admission that any of the information it contains constitutes prior art against the present patent application.